Weisgerber v. Clowney

Citations

• 131 F. 477
• 1904 U.S. App. LEXIS 4917

Syllabus

<p>1. Patents — Infringement—Rolling Chairs.</p> <p>The Weisgerber patent, No. 675,693, for “a rolling chair provided with an arm-rest, and a wheel-screen continuing downwardly from said rest, and extending from side to side of the frame below said rest, and swelled outwardly over’the wheel,” if not void for lack of patentable invention, is of narrow scope, and is not infringed by a chair in which the sides are extended downward in the same plane, and the wheels are placed inside of such extensions.</p> <p>2. Same — Designs—Mechanical Function — Novelty.</p> <p>A design patent is addressed to the eye, and is to be judged by ita ability to please, and, while there is no objection to the article to whicti it relates being useful as well as ornamental, such a patent cannot be made to cover a mechanical function or construction. A design patent also, the same as any other, must be possessed of novelty.</p> <p>3. Same — Infringement—Design for Rolling Chair.</p> <p>The Weisgerber design patent, No. 35,043, for a design for a rolling chair held not infringed, on evidence which showed that defendant’s chairs, i' they would otherwise infringe, were constructed and in use by defendant prior to complainant’s application for the patent.</p> <p>¶3. See Patents, vol. 38, Cent. Dig. § 66.</p>